So yesterday my instructor tried to trot him around the arena, against the fence, with the dressage whip, and even SHE had trouble. She finally did get him to go a few steps at a trot (after a little temper tantrum). After that she got him to trot once more (with a lot of effort), but he pretty much took off at a high speed trot and flew out in front of her.

I feel a little better that it's not just me. Hopefully now he's at least gotten the start of an idea what we're asking.

After my instructor finally fought him through it, I tried a few more times to trot him.
Mostly my method was to ask for the trot. When he didn't give it I'd push him around on the lead rope with the dressage whip and get him into a trot (like mini-lunging), then when he'd made a full circle back towards the direction we were initially heading I'd trot off alongside him. I also initially did this heading back out to pasture, so it was somewhere he wanted to go already.
As soon as I got just one step that way I'd start petting him, telling him good boy, and giving him some carrots. Then a couple steps.

Now here we are a couple weeks later. I just say the word "trot" and he immediately picks it up, no matter where we are and where we're heading.
We're still working on speed control - he tends to go faster than me, but not significantly faster so I can work with it.

So great progress. I just had to figure out how to make him understand what I wanted.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Horse Forum forums, you must first register.

Already have a Horse Forum account?
Members are allowed only one account per person at the Horse Forum, so if you've made an account here in the past you'll need to continue using that account. Please do not create a new account or you may lose access to the Horse Forum. If you need help recovering your existing account, please Contact Us. We'll be glad to help!

New to the Horse Forum?Please choose a username you will be satisfied with using for the duration of your membership at the Horse Forum. We do not change members' usernames upon request because that would make it difficult for everyone to keep track of who is who on the forum. For that reason, please do not incorporate your horse's name into your username so that you are not stuck with a username related to a horse you may no longer have some day, or use any other username you may no longer identify with or care for in the future.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Old Thread Warning

This thread is more than 90 days old. When a thread is this old, it is often better to start a new thread rather than post to it. However, If you feel you have something of value to add to this particular thread, you can do so by checking the box below before submitting your post.I am aware that this is an old thread and I want to revive it rather than starting a new thread.